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Half-Baked: The Journal of Ideas That Aren’t

In July 2000 I travelled to Buffalo, NY for the IBM convention. Tucked under my arm were 100 copies of Half-Baked; The Journal of Ideas That Aren’t.

I was there to hand them out, for free, to generate interest in what was, more than a magazine, a social experiment. Would magicians be willing to share ideas, to participate in a collective brainstorm session, essentially giving away their ideas to whoever wished to work on them? Turns out, yes!

I wrote, edited, and published the magazine from 2000 to 2003, delivering twelve quarterly issues. Each one full of unfinished magical ideas including presentation concepts, methods without tricks, and tricks without methods.

I was honoured to receive contributions from many stars in magic; Kevin James, Ben Harris, Wesley James, David Acer, and many more who would later become stars; Tomas Blomberg, Nathan Kranzo, Andi Gladwin, Luke Dancy… so many friends and contributors stepped up to participate in my crazy idea.

Creativity in motion inspires more creativity. Ideas lead to more ideas. When you flip through the pages of Half-Baked it is nearly impossible to not have your brain light up with new inspiration.

I had long planned to turn it into a book. My idea was to revisit all this raw material, reach out to the original contributors to see what, if anything, had developed, and juxtapose the rough ideas beside the polished, fully-baked tricks and routines.

That, itself, never made it past the Half-Baked stage simply for the large amount of work and the low amount of demand.

Instead of that, I’m simply letting it go free. Half-Baked can continue on its mission to inspire new ideas… only if it’s in the hands of new magicians.

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The Complete Half-Baked

12 issues, 163 pages, dedicated to creativity in magic. Not just the notebook of unfinished ideas, but articles to help you develop and push your creative limits.

I’m asking for your email so I can send you the PDF download, and also keep in touch about Tips & Tricks for Magicians.

Ryan

Ryan is a magician in Canada. While he has been at it for over 20 years, he still considers himself a "magician in progress", always learning and improving. Here at Tips & Tricks he's sharing his lessons along the way.